Tag Archives: attendees

One day we will get to the point where an University inviting guests to debate marriage equality will be greeted with the same scorn that an on-campus debate on women’s suffrage or whether or not African-Americans are 3/5 of a person would engender, but that day is not today. Just in time for the expected U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling on Prop. 8 tomorrow, Feb. 7, the Federalist Society and Outlaw at the University of Houston present “Defining Marriage: A Debate!” at noon in the Bates Law Building room 109.

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage, will be on hand to defend the continued prohibition against marriage equality. Mitchell Katine, who served as local counsel in Lawrence v. Texas (the Supreme Court case declaring Texas’ law against “homosexual conduct” unconstitutional) will defend marriage as a civil right, constitutionally guaranteed by equal protection under the law.

As a bonus the first 70 attendees to arrive will receive a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich and waffle fries, because we like our civil rights debated with a side of irony.

After the jump get a sneak peak at the kind of keen logical arguments to be expected from Dr. Morse:

My full reviews of several movies — including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which has some sneak previews tonight and opens formally Wednesday — will be in the week’s print and online editions starting late tomorrow, but I wanted to give a head’s-up about one of the new releases: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. This is a throw-back to the Cold War thrillers of the 1970s, both in tone, topic and look, but what’s really interesting (aside from a subtle gay subplot you should be on the lookout for) was something not on the screen, but in your hand.

At the press screening last night, attendees were presented a “dossier” (above), a slickly-produced fold-out intended “for your eyes only,” but really an almost-necessary cheat sheet to the plot of the damn thing! As any fans of John Le Carre know, Tinker, Tailor was originally produced as a seven-part miniseries in the late 1970s, which gave the labyrinthine plot room to breathe. The filmmakers do a good job concentrating on the major points and telling a complex but cogent story, but the existence of the dossier made me feel they didn’t really trust audiences to give themselves over and figure it out for themselves.

Or maybe they just didn’t trust critics. I’m not sure if the “dossier” will be available at all screening when it opens at the Angelika Friday, but let me know! It certainly is a fun little novelty if nothing else.

The Gender Book is an effort to try to bring together, in one resource, a discussion of the wide array of gender expressions and identities that fall under the transgender umbrella. It’s creators are holding a brainstorming session next Thursday evening, December 8, to get public input and allow the community at large to become a part of the project.

“We sort of just made the Gender Book out of a need that we felt,” says Mel Reiff Hill, one of the collaborators on the project, along with Boston Bostian and Jay Mays. Hill says that the creators of the Gender Book searched for resources to help them talk about gender, but were unable to find anything that met their needs. “I had a boyfriend who had to pay a therapist to attend training on gender so that he could get the care he needed,” says Hill “the resources just weren’t out there.”

“At the time we were all living in the same house and we had a writer and an artist and a fundraising person and an enteprenuer. All of us were under the transgender umbrella in one way or another and all of us had friends and lovers who are as well,” and thus the Gender Book was born.

Hill describes the brainstorming session as “an interactive community party.” “We’re the first to admit that we can’t represent everyone,” says Hill, recognizing the limitations of any author writing on such a diverse topic. “We’ll have surveys for people to fill out and snacks and coloring book versions for people to fill out”

The coloring book pages are the result of Hill’s process in illustrating the book. Hill first draws pages in pencil then outlines the drawings in pen and erases the pencil, finally scanning the drawing and coloring it by computer. “I presented a workshop with some high schoolers and I was showing one of them my binder of papers looking through it one of them saw the original pen drawings,” says Hill. “He was like ‘you should give these to high schoolers, they love coloring it’s very zen-like for them.'” Hill says that the coloring pages have proved a hit at subsequent workshops and a great way to open up conversations about gender.

The brainstorming session, coloring pages included, is next Thursday, December 8, at the Lawndale Art Center (4912 Main). Attendees are asked to RSVP through Facebook.

More information on the Gender Book is available through their website, TheGenderBook.com.

Gary Lynn Floyd killed a few birds with one stone last night. First, he helped celebrate the Interfaith Peace Chapel’s one-year anniversary. Second, he shot footage for his upcoming reality series slot on Troubadour, TX. Most importantly, though, he reminded us all why we love listening to him sing.

His concert Sunday night, which also served as a release party for his new CD Then+Now, featured Gary on piano, voice miked, singing solo: Songs from his long career, some from his days in Christian music (including his only No. 1 hit as a songwriter), moving up to his current output. He joked that people may still detect a bit of the church in his voice; ain’t that the truth. Listening to Gary is sort of like your own private sermon — he seemed to be connecting directly with me as he sang. (Of course, I was sitting behind his mother, so maybe he was just singing to her.) But I bet all of the 80 or so attendees felt that same connection. That’s what good singing is all about.

David Kunkle

Fresh off his endorsement for mayor from Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, former Police Chief David Kunkle is scheduled to appear tonight at the regular meeting of Dallas Stonewall Young Democrats. The Stonewall Democrats endorsement, of course, applies to the Stonewall Young Democrats, who will also hold their 2011 officer elections tonight.

The DSYD folks got on Instant Tea a while back for highlighting their use of free adult beverages to promote their meetings, and this time we received a very official press release about the event with absolutely no mention of alcohol whatsoever. However, over on the Facebook page we found this: “Attendees can enjoy complimentary UV Vodka cocktails (limit two) during the meeting.”

Also attending the meeting, according to the Facebook page, will be U.S. Senate candidate Sean Hubbard and James Nowlin, the openly gay challenger who was endorsed by Stonewall Democrats in his race against incumbent City Councilwoman Angela Hunt in District 14. Members of Stonewall Young Democrats reportedly played a pivotal role in swinging the endorsement to Nowlin.

The meeting is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at DISH Restaurant and Lounge in ilume, 4123 Cedar Springs Rd, Suite 110. For more info, go here.

Via GLBT Dallas, above is a promotional video for next year’s Out & Equal Workplace Summit, set for Oct. 25-28 in Dallas. The video reportedly was shown to attendees at this year’s Workplace Summit, in Los Angeles last month.

Among other things, the video features a spot by Mayor Tom Leppert near the end.

“We’re building a bright future by embracing and welcoming everyone,” Leppert says in the video. “We know that being a world-class city means being a place where all citizens and visitors are both welcomed and appreciated.”

In related news, Leppert was absent from the Black Tie Dinner for the second time in four years on Saturday. He missed gay Pride this year too, also for the second time in four years.

Leppert is widely believed to be eyeing a run for U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2012, but the video shows that he hasn’t completely distanced himself from the LGBT community.

Leppert’s openly gay chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh, said the mayor missed Black Tie because he had a wedding and two other events on Saturday night.

“They changed the program a bit this year and the Mayor was not asked to speak, so it made the decision a bit easier,” Heinbaugh said.

Realtor Bob McCranie

At the national meeting of the National Association of Realtors in New Orleans, 25,000 attendees voted on a code of ethics amendment that would prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians by members of the organization.

A voice vote was held earlier today and the chair believed that the measure had passed by a two-thirds vote, according to gay Carrollton Realtor Bob McCranie, who’s attending the conference. McCranie said the Collin County association voted in favor of the nondiscrimination measure.

The chair moved to the next item on the agenda, but the next speaker called to reopen the nondiscrimination measure and asked for a secret ballot. That vote is now taking place and results will be available later this afternoon, McCranie said.

If the measure passes, it would be part of the code of ethics that must be followed nationwide by the 2 million members of the association.

UPDATE: Nondiscrimination passed by 93 percent of the vote in a secret ballot.

“This is a monumental moment for fair housing,” said Todd Shipman, the president of the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals.

His organization has been working on the issue with the National Association of Realtors for about 3 years, he told Dallas Voice by phone from the convention in New Orleans. He said that there is a patchwork of laws across the country but that his organization will continue to advocate for a national fair housing law that includes LGBT people.

McCranie said that the new regulation applies to all real estate professionals who have the Realtor designation. He said that now all Realtors must work with all clients equally.

It’s good to see local TV news stations covering the Tarrant County Gay Pride Parade. But it’s unfortunate that NBCDFW.com posted this quote from an attendee on its website:

“I think whatever a person’s choice is, is their choice. I’m not out here to judge nobody, but I’m out here to standup and help be a part of that voice,” said one of the attendees.

If you watch the station’s video from the parade above, you’ll notice that whoever is responsible for the quote doesn’t appear anywhere in it. And who knows, maybe a homophobic intern at the station just decided to make an editorial statement. Let’s hope so, because it’s difficult enough fighting off the “gay is a choice” attacks from right-wingers. The last thing we need is be hearing it from within our own community.